The Infected
by KitKatsAndVodka32
Summary: A virus outbreaks in the center of each countries capital. The countries are all in a panic but no one wants to think about who could've started the outbreak. In all honesty, it may be impossible but a spark of hope that they can end this endures. Friends will be lost, love will end, and death seems to be a looming threat at every corner.
1. Chapter 1

That Fateful Day

How could it be that Basch felt it was too peaceful? Lili was home and playing in the garden and he was guarding the border as usual. Nothing was different, but he felt something was going to go wrong today and he had no clue why. The grass, lush and green, Basch laid down in. His rifle pointed upwards and his eye focused through the target, waiting for someone to step across the border in hopes of entering his peaceful place to sully it with their violent and illegal ways. His three pet goats, Eiger, Jungfrau, and Mönch bleating every time they sensed a sort of disruption which actually turned out to be another animal speeding across and was just a false alarm.

"Ah, I guess no one's coming over today thank goodness," Basch mumbled to himself as he sat up from the grass. He looked around the white's on blues, and luscious green around him in the vast field.

"Time to head home to Lili then," he said to himself and dusted off his brown trousers and forest green military jacket that wrapped pleasantly around him. After a moment of gathering his belongings, he headed home only to see it in ruins. He didn't even think before darting inside.

"Lili?! Lili!" He called throughout the house but gained no response of the smaller blonde headed girl. Basch began searching through the rooms until he heard a faint sound.

"B-bruder..." a weak voice called from somewhere close by.

"Lili where are you?!" Basch asked, clearly in a panic.

"R-right here," she sniffled.

"Oh, Lili!" He brought her close and hugged her tight to himself.

"Bruder, I was scared," she whimpered.

"Shh... I'm here now," he soothed.

"Who did this?!" He suddenly snapped.

"S-someone who looked like you came in and tried forcing me to drink something," she explained quietly. An alert popped up on the television and it displayed multiple cities in ruins. Madrid, Berlin, Venice and Rome, Tokyo, Washington, Ontario, and many more places including his own were shown to have had "citizen" outbreaks. The people displayed on the news didn't look human, they were almost... Dead. No. Undead.

"Lili, get all the supplies from the basement and we're getting out of here immediately after," she nodded, seeing the news reports had made it clear what was going on and Lili was ready to get away anyways.

"We'll have to find somewhere to hold an emergency world meeting I'm sure, be prepared to do anything Lili," Basch said sternly to her.

"Of course," she responded.

"Luckily you cut your hair back recently, we don't have to worry about that for now," he told her and tried to give a small smile. The bangs of his blonde hair draped over his face like a curtain and he brushed them out of his way. Lili nodded and smiled softly before scattering off to get the supplies he required.

"I thank the heavens I can have a portable charger..." he mumbled to himself as he grabbed his phone and the charger. He didn't know what happened to his poor sheep but they would have to wait.

"C'mon Lili!" He called and grabbed the rest of his own supplies and stuffed them into a nearby backpack.

"I got lots of food, water, and clothes," she said and showed him the backpack full of items.

"Good job," he told her. A loud crash could be heard coming from the window nearby and groaning noises came through.

"Hurry!" He pulled Lili along and outside, past the undead people. He didn't to think of what could've happened to these poor people but he just wanted to get out of there.

"Airport?" Lili asked as she got into the car.

"Sounds like a plan, call Ludwig, make a meeting place, get there by jet," Basch recited to Lili while she dialed his number. His hands went white as he gripped the steering wheel and drove faster than he ever could in his life. He could hear a voice on the other side of the phone and Lili sigh out of relief.

"Ludwig?" Basch asked and Lili nodded as a response. After a bit, Lili hung up the phone and set it on her lap and shut it down.

"We have to meet in Warsaw, Poland," Lili informed. Basch nodded and continued to drive down to the airport. He sighed out in exasperation. After a few minutes of driving, they finally made it to the airport without too many road blockage issues.

"C'mon Lil... We've gotta get to the jets before they completely close it off," Basch said and ushered her along. The airport was small in relativity some of the airports he's been to but it was normal enough and he knew he could get access to a jet. They walked through the empty terminal and a noise startled them. There. A rustling in the leaves right next to them. Basch pulled out his army knife and backed up.

"It's alright Mon Cher, it's only Moi, Ludwig, and Feliciano," A thick accented Frenchman appeared along with a fearful Italian and a frustrated German.

"When did you guys get to Switzerland?" Basch asked. He was wondering when they got there.

"Remember that door key's the ancients gave that were good for four emergency uses?" Feliciano asked.

"We used those," Ludwig finished.

"Ah, I see," Basch nodded and observed the disheveled state of the trio.

"Is anyone we know of dead yet?" Lili asked, her soft mint colored eyes shone with a spark of hope.

"A few people, unfortunately," Ludwig informed, casting his gaze downward.

"Don't tell me Gilbert is gone!" Basch snapped and pushed Ludwig against the wall.

"I don't know! He's with Ivan, remember?" Ludwig pushed the Swiss off of himself.

"Sorry, sorry." The Swiss apologized and rolled his eyes.

"A lot of parts of Asia are gone, and by a lot, I mean everyone except Yao and Kiku," Francis explained.

"Wow... That's-"

"Terrible, I know," Feliciano finished.

"Did they get the message at least to meet in Poland?" Ludwig nodded in affirmation.

"Good," Basch said.

"We need as many countries as possible to meet up there anyways right?" Lili asked. Her demeanor was changing as she was still in her "ready to fight if you hurt my brother" kind of stage.

"Well, let's get to a jet then," Francis said. His hair caked to his forehead from the perspiration from only a moment ago. Without further ado, they walked to the section of the terminal and saw a pilot still there, loyal to the swiss name as Basch always imagined and ready to take off to Poland.

"Uh, can you take us to Poland?"

"Sure, might as well get me away from all the trouble anyways right?" The pilot asked.

"True to that," Ludwig said.

"Luddy, are we going to be okay?" Feliciano asked, clinging to the bulky German.

"I say we will," Francis said.

"Me too then," Lili chipped in.

"If Lili says so, I say so," Basch snapped in.

"Then I guess we will make it," Ludwig said and gave a smile to the Italian as they began boarding the plane. All extra materials were stored away and the emergency meeting plan was going as follows like they planned. It wasn't going too bad, so when the pilot took off at no moment's notice, they relaxed and hoped for things to be better in Poland, even knowing that it would be just as infected as anyone else's country.


	2. Chapter 2

Who Lived And Who Died?

Basch rested his head back and sighed. Everyone was quiet as they pondered what happened to their siblings and loved ones. Ludwig left wondering where his brother was, Feliciano hoping for Antonio and Lovino to be alright, and Francis hoping for Arthur, Matthew, and Alfred to have survived. Lili put her head on his shoulder. At least he didn't have to worry too much since Lili was right there, but he wondered how things would be if she suddenly disappeared.

"Lili," Basch cracked the silence between them. She looked up at him.

"I will protect you until the end," he declared.

"Bruder no," she whispered feebly.

"Yes, Lili, I want you to live in a situation of life or death," Basch chastised.

"But, who will take care of me?" Lili's teal eyes were full to the brim with worry.

"Don't worry, I trust Ludwig to help you, and you're strong so I trust you on your own too," he whispered to her and gave a rare smile.

"Okay," was all she responded with. He sighed to himself and stroked her soft blonde hair soothingly.

"I love you, Lili," Basch whispered to her. He was exhausted from the constant worry and fear clouding his mind but it was the same reason he couldn't sleep in the first place.

"Say, Basch," Francis spoke up.

"How did the outbreak happen in your country?" He asked.

"Well," Basch started. "What happened was while I was at my border patrol, Lili said someone came in with some strange drink he almost forced her to take and wrecked our house before running off to the capital and starting an all-out outbreak," he explained, trying to recall every instance.

"Sounds very similar to what happened to me," Ludwig added.

"And me," Feliciano whined.

"I don't know what happened to Rome, but some weird guy who looked like me tried to make me drink something that looked nasty and when he got a hold of me finally, he just let me go and ran off to what I assume was Venice because, after only an hour, there was outbreak," Feliciano recalled bitterly. He always saw the Italian bright and bubbly so it was a true heartbreaking thing to see him so upset. Basch had seen Ludwig's fist clench while Feliciano was talking about the strange person who came in his home.

"No one tried forcing me to drink anything," Ludwig said.

"Me either," Francis added in.

"I wasn't there, so me either," Basch said.

"Folks, we will be arriving in Warsaw in about twenty minutes, please prepare for arrival appropriately, and by prepare I mean get your weapons ready," Basch took his bag from underneath him and grabbed his rifle. Ludwig and Feliciano took out their pistols and Francis had an axe on him. The plane circled the airport before finally landing.

"You guys ready?" Ludwig asked. Everyone nodded and held their weapons close.

"Are we meeting anyone in the airport?" Basch asked.

"Hopefully Ivan, Mein Bruder, Felicks, and The Baltics," Ludwig said as they exited the plane and went through the terminal. As they walked, the sound of rushing footsteps could be heard and they saw exactly who they were searching for.

"West!" A rough German voice sounded from afar.

"East?" Ludwig looked up.

"Ja! It's your awesome brother Gilbert!" The German called and rushed to catch up with the group.

"Where's Ivan?"

"What about the three Baltics and Felicks?"

"Commie jerk is on his way and well... They didn't survive," Gilbert explained.

"You notice this place is basically a ghost town?" A Russian accent called from behind the German.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Oh, hey Ivan!" Gilbert said a bit over excitedly.

"Privet," Ivan replied, his usual smile placed on his face.

"Did your sisters make it at least?" Lili asked.

"Nyet, they..." Ivan's smile dropped completely, "died."

"Ja, the Untoten took them," Gilbert said sorrowfully.

"Untoten?" Feliciano and Francis repeated.

"Basically the undead," Ludwig translated.

"Ah, I see," Francis said. There was a sudden sound of groaning coming from the east end of the terminal.

"We have to get out of here," Basch barked at the group. He took Lili's hand and ran off towards the exit. His white baret began to fall off but he could've cared less for it as there was a horde of undead creatures, they weren't even people anymore, heading straight towards them. Lili was starting to stumble over her dress and her shoes were causing her to trip a little. Basch had to think fast so he picked her up and carried her over to the exit. It was barred off, locked, and sealed.

"Guy's, it's locked!" Basch exclaimed.

"Well, we better find a way out or else we'll be dead and become these things quicker thank you can say Berlin," Gilbert snapped.

"Look for a fire exit, or something that can smash this glass!" Ivan ordered.

"Basch, Gilbert, and I will give you some time by killing off as many of these guys as possible!" Ivan said before taking his own pistol from the inside of his coat and shooting as many as he could. Basch and Gilbert followed Ivan's lead and shot away at the undead. There were a lot and the three who were scavenging for something to knock the door down with had come to a halt and glared at Francis.

"Oh my goodness! Francis, you had an axe the whole time!" Ludwig snarled.

"Use it on the door so we can escape!" Basch snapped, shooting at one that resembled Eduard. Francis got busy on smashing the glass in so the could escape scratch free. In just seconds, the glass shattered and Ivan gave the signal to run. Basch turned around and ran along with the group, but he was grabbed from behind and pulled back by the groaning creatures.

"N-no!" Lili screamed and rushed over to help. Basch kicked and flailed at the creatures grasp until he saw Lili come over and kick it off of him.

"T-thanks Lili," blood stained her shoes and some of her dress, his own clothes had a few blood stains on him and a scratch or two on his body.

"Be careful Bruder!" She snapped and pulled him along as they ran out of the infested airport.

"Are you two alright?" Feliciano asked and examined their disheveled state.

"Is that blood?" Francis asked as he observed the two.

"Not ours," they both said.

"Good," Ivan stated.

The group walked outside of the airport and observed the city.

"Warsaw, Poland," Gilbert read aloud.

"It suddenly feels good to be back," Ludwig said and looked at his brother who simply nodded in turn. They inspected the area that was a complete mess anyways, nothing salvageable and since no one could hotwire or do anything useful with cars it seemed useless to try anything with them.

"How far is the meeting place from here?" Basch asked.

"About a quarter mile," Francis said.

"Not bad," he remarked.

"Let's get going then," Ludwig said, he was used to taking protocol so he did. As they walked carefully around the city, silent and stealthy. Everyone just had to hope that people made it to the meeting area before them considering that from what Ivan told them, he was the one to come up with the location as he was the last to speak with Felicks.

"Does anyone know how the Nordics are doing?" No one answered and they all shrugged. Basch glared back as if to anyone else planning on speaking after this to shut up. He didn't want the group to get detected and talking would not help their case at this point in time. Ludwig told Basch to bring up the rear for the time being in case something decided to sneak behind the group and attack. Basch did as he was told and held his rifle close.

"Guys, only shoot if it's necessary," Ivan warned the group from his position in the center. They walked past a few buildings that were barricaded in and some that were already crumbling.

"There, the meeting hall," Ludwig called barely loud enough for the group to hear. Sure enough, a meeting hall with a few helicopters in front was located. Everyone hurried towards it in high hopes. The door opened and it was almost as if an apocalypse had never happened as inside, a bubbly blonde American and a snooty Englishman were arguing with each other, while a few other countries were causing their own arguments amongst each other. Some countries were missing, though.

"Oh hey, look it's Germany!" the eccentric American called.

"Oh no, it's the potato brothers," an angry Italian voice called.

"Gyah! It's France!" The voice called and the sound of a chair sliding back and a head being bumped on the table was audible.

"I'm still here guys... Eh," a soft voice said.

"You are all getting worked up and not thinking rationally! Eat some food won't you?" A Chinese accent said from his seat.

"Oh, bloody ell' it's Francis!"

"Regrettable that everyone must be like this," A Japanese voice could be heard.

"Call me big brother already,"

"Never!"

"Calm down you two,"

Three more familiar voices.

"No one can be as manly as me!" A certain Turkish voice.

"Everyone shut up!" Ludwig bellowed.

"We came here to see who was alive and figure out the issue at hand, not argue with each other!" Basch chimed in.

"And if you all continue, I'll beat you with my Nobel peace prize!" He added on. Everyone shut their mouths and listened to what Ludwig had to say next.

"Look, we have an infectious outbreak and can't figure out how it even started so I say we all join together as one large team and fight this out,"

"Si, let's do it," Feliciano said without hesitation, Kiku and Yao joined in. Eventually, the whole room was on board with no argument.

"Anyone bring tents or something to sleep in for now?" Alfred asked.

"Mattie and I brought four total,"

"I only managed to get two, one for me and one for Kiku," Yao said.

"I have three."

"I brought a lot of sleeping bags," Lukas said.

"How many?" Emil asked.

"At least twelve..." He replied.

"How did you bloody fit that many?!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Magic bag," he simply replied.

"You still have that?!" Ivan exclaimed. The Norwegian nodded slyly and took out the items from the backpack.

"So far we have sixteen, Basch and Lili don't have one, though,"

"Lili managed to pack two, so we're good," Basch said.

"That's good, put up some barricades as well," Ludwig instructed. While Ludwig was giving instructions Basch held Lili close to himself.

"I can't believe I almost died today, I'm so thankful for having you Lili," he whispered to her.

"It's okay Bruder," she said, her teal eyes wide as she looked at him. He hugged her close to himself and leaned her into him.

"Are you okay Basch?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah, fine," he said and sighed.

"We'll make it through this, all of us will live and we'll find a way out," Ludwig sat down next to him on the sleeping bag.

"I guess so," he said and sighed. It would be a long time for everyone to revert to normal, it's not like things could go normal like when the Pictonians came around.


	3. Chapter 3

Too Live or Not to Live

It had been about a week since the tragic fallout. The countries remaining were on edge.

"Arthur, your brothers didn't make it did they?" Alfred pressed for the millionth time that week.

"I don't know," Arthur simply replied.

"Come on Artie, didn't you say they made you go ahead and you had to run away without them right?" Alfred asked.

"Alfred can you just shut up!" Arthur snapped.

"Chill Artie, I was just wondering so I can get a consensus on who's alive and who isn't," Alfred retaliated.

"I don't think you understand having a family member die on you and being unable to do anything about it!" Arthur retorted. The American backed down and sighed to himself.

"Sorry," was all he could manage before walking away.

"Where are you going, Alfred?!" Matthew asked.

"Outside," Alfred responded and opened the back door.

"No, you're not, unless Ludwig told you to," he argued.

"Can you leave me alone Matthew?" Alfred growled.

"No, you're not leaving because it's too dangerous to go alone!" Matthew hissed.

"You forget about the fact I own a gun and can kill them?"

"Didn't Francis, Feliciano, Berwald, and Emil learn the hard way not to make a loud noise?"

"What do you mean?" Alfred asked.

"Feliciano almost got caught and got his leg caught up in a fence trying to escape a group of Infected, now he has to get treated for wounds," Matthew explained.

"At least he had a group of people to protect him while he escaped, but if you go alone and encounter some you'll die if something like that happens to you," Matthew continued on.

"Fine, I won't go," Alfred finally reasoned.

"Thanks, Al," Matthew's gaze softened and he hugged his brother but was shoved off.

"I'm just mad okay, leave me alone for a bit," Alfred stressed. He really was upset and frustrated, being stuck in the same place for a week and not being able to do anything but strategize, eat, and sleep. Being stuck in a situation like this: everyone constantly argued, two people fought over leadership, and all in the same room was a bit maddening for most. People who were carefree like Feliciano and... It was pretty much Feliciano who couldn't care less but sometimes Francis and Gilbert would be okay.

Everyone bustled around inside of the meeting hall. Francis and Gilbert sat together and cracked their usual perverted jokes with Arthur in between them. Sadik was taking inventory as he never really had anyone to talk to except Kiku who didn't really have the energy to talk to anyone at the time. Yao was comforting Kiku and talking to him to keep the small bits of sanity in the small Japanese boy and to keep him from being empty. Matthew and Alfred were sitting across each other, not looking at each other either. The argument from earlier made the brothers distant towards each other and they didn't want to talk. The remaining Nordics stayed together and decided to finally mourn the loss of their siblings and lovers. Mathias and Tino were gone and they were going to have to live without their brother and without their sweetest sibling. Berwald was feeling the worst effect of everything because he was married to Tino. When Berwald managed to leave Tino behind because that's what he wanted him to do, he couldn't handle it that day. Ludwig, Basch, Lili, and Feliciano were all sitting together and talking as if it was a normal day. Lovino begrudgingly sat next to his brother. He had an obvious distaste for Ludwig and the relationship between his brother. Lovino knew how much Ludwig actually liked his brother and it was extremely obvious. He just hoped that Ludwig wouldn't hurt his brother or do something stupid and leave his brother behind.

"Lovi, what's wrong?" Feliciano asked.

"Uh, nothing," he lied.

"Are you sure?" He crawled over and sat next to his brother. Feliciano had been recently occupying the German's lap and it relieved Lovino a bit to see him away from him.

"Could we talk later Fratello?" The darker Italian asked.

"Uh... Si, we can," Feliciano replied. His little curl bounced curiously.

"Thanks," he simply said and gave a rare smile. Feliciano sat next to Lovino for the rest of the day.

A little while later, it was time for the evening patrols. Most everyone dreaded these but there wasn't another choice because they had to salvage for supplies. The group was in the middle of picking people for the patrol.

"Feliciano you are excluded and so is Matthew,"

"Luddy, don't go out tonight please!" Feliciano squeaked. The German sighed softly.

"Fine," Ludwig simply said.

"Basch, are you still okay to lead?" The swiss man nodded.

"Lovino, you're going because you're quick on your feet," the Italian grumbled something but nodded.

"Yao and Kiku can't go either..." Ludwig mumbled to himself.

"Sadik and Alfred, you'll go," he said.

"Is that enough?" Basch asked.

"I say we get one more jerk," Lovino chimed.

"How about someone with magic?" Arthur piped up.

"But not me, I'm busy making a map of the area," Arthur snapped and glared at the group.

"Where is Ivan?" Basch asked.

"He's recording everyone's name who's in the group," Ludwig explained.

"Okay, then how about Lukas?"

"Right here," the Norwegian raised his hand and stepped forward.

"You'll go too," Basch ordered. After a little bit of setting up, the group took off to the outside world once more. It felt as tense as ever, guns pressed close to themselves (or spellbook), all of them huddled together and ready to run, on the lookout for The Infected and bandits. As Basch walked at the head of the group, he saw something on one of the televisions.

"Someone find a rock, or something hard,"

"Like m-

"Here you go," Lukas handed him a brick, cutting off the American. There seemed to be a public service announcement. _'So the government isn't gone,'_ Basch thought to himself. The Infected began walking towards the shop while the announcement went.

"We are searching for the personifications of the countries, a reward will be given for every country captured, remaining survivors who capture these people are going to be offered permanent shelter, food and water, and protection from any Infected," Basch swore under his breath. He didn't understand why anyone wanted to come for them. Who could want to come for the countries anyways? There was a sound of rustling in the area.

"Head back, now," Basch hissed at the group. They went back without question but Lovino was waiting to give Basch a nightmare back at base. As they headed back, Lukas noticed rubble covering their way back inside.

"Guys, we have a problem," Lukas called from the back.

"Hurry up and use your magic to unblock it!" Basch ordered. Lukas took his spell book from its pocket and flipped through the pages. Bandits were catching up to them while Lukas looked through the book.

"C'mon, where is that levitation spell?" Lukas muttered to himself.

"Found it!" He called and aimed at the rubble.

"Recidite de me!" He recited over and over.

"Guys, go!" He snapped at the surprised countries. Infected began to hear the ruckus and the bandits were long gone. They paused.

"What about you?" Alfred asked.

"I'll make it! Just freaking go!" He yelled at them. Everyone else ran but Alfred paused before running inside. The rubble fell and covered the door once again.

"I'm sorry, little brother," Lukas mumbled before aiming his hand up at the Infected.

"I'm sorry Matt," he shot a beam of light at the horde

"I'm sorry, Ber and Tino," he shot more of them down, but the horde was closing in. He continued taking out Infected until he was surrounded on all sides.

"Goodbye," the horde swarmed in on him.

"Ivan, Arthur, someone who can do magic! Lukas is stuck outside and the Infected are going to attack him!" Alfred alerted

"We can't do anything for him jerk," Lovino snapped at the American.

"I bet if you had gone inside like he told you to then maybe he could have a chance at living," Lovino continued.

"My fault for not going inside?! I was going to make sure he would survive this mess!" Alfred retorted.

"I swear to god, why is everything my fault?" Alfred huffed before storming off.

"So... Norge is dead now?" Emil asked Berwald.

"Seems so," he replied softly.

"That's impossible! Can't he do magic?" Emil sniffled "He shouldn't be dead," Emil growled, tears stinging at the corners of his eyes.

"By Alfred's words, he is dead,"

"No!" Emil yelled and almost slapped his Nordic friend, but refrained from doing so after realizing how much pain it could cause later.

"I just need to lay down," Emil finally said and walked away. Berwald sighed to himself. He understood the pain of losing someone close to him. He mourned for the loss of his closest friend, Matthias and his lover, Tino. He would have to help Emil get over the loss of his older brother and also keep a heavy watch as Berwald was worried he could do something drastic to himself.

"Poor Icey."

Ludwig came up behind Berwald and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Berwald sighed out at this action and looked at Ludwig.

"Yeah, we've just gotta keep an eye on him so he doesn't hurt himself over this," Berwald stated. Ludwig gave a nod in response to the Swedish man and sighed quietly.

"I know I wasn't there but I should've been responsible enough to go out and see if I could save Lukas," said Ludwig in a bitter tone.

"We couldn't have done anything, they said Infected were everywhere and Bandits were also hiding around," Berwald replied.

"Bandits?" Ludwig queried.

"Yep," Berwald replied.

"I have to go talk to Basch, I'll be back," Ludwig strode off into one of the conference rooms. Moments later, a bit of quarreling could be heard before it became quiet.

"Why didn't you report anything to me the second you got back?" Ludwig slammed his fist onto the table and glared at Basch.

"I-I got caught up in some things, okay?" Basch snapped back.

"You have to report these things to someone other than your sister because they're vital points of information we need!"

The Swiss clenched his fist at his sides before relaxing his tense form.

"Okay, I apologize then," he said through clenched teeth. What Basch didn't know was that Lili hid underneath the table and heard the whole argument. She was angry at Ludwig for yelling at her brother over something that was trivial in her head. Lili was smart enough to tell this information to Ludwig and was about to search for him but it was pretty much too late since he was getting everything out of her brother. It frustrated her to hide underneath the table and not stick up for her brother but she would have to deal with it since she didn't want to get a lecture from her brother and Ludwig about listening to other people's conversation.

"That's everything that happened," Basch said.

"So now we have people who are searching for us and ready to take us into the people who probably started this whole situation in the first place," Ludwig said to himself.

"We'll be safe as long as the rubble is covering the building, right?"

"If they find our back entrance we're all done for, though."

Ludwig stood up from his seat and walked out of the room. Basch sighed to himself as he sat up eventually and left as well. Lili got up from underneath the table and snuck back into where she was "sleeping" before Basch had left. The only problem she had was when she bumped into Ivan and he asked her a few questions but didn't cause her too much trouble. Lili had somehow even made it back to her sleeping bag before Basch had even come back and even managed to feign sleep until he came up to her.

"Lili, wake up," Basch ordered.

"Sorry Bruder," she mumbled and yawned.

"It's okay, I just wanted you to wake up because you have to assist in sorting out rations."

Lili nodded and smiled at Basch.

"Okay Bruder," she replied and got out of the sleeping bag. If it was another long day, so be it.


	4. Chapter 4

Distrust

Arthur sat anxiously in his chair as the meeting carried on. Basch and Ludwig were on heated terms from the previous argument and the tension with Ivan was making everyone on edge. It was a constant war between Basch, Ivan, and Ludwig as to who should lead since no one wanted to share the leadership.

"I say we should just have you three share the leadership, non?" Francis recommended to the glaring trio.

"What do you mean?" Basch questioned.

"I mean you divide your leadership amongst each other and then you won't all have to worry about doing one job and getting blamed for failing it all," Francis continued.

"I guess that could work," Ludwig said.

"Nyet," Ivan growled.

"I don't care, to be honest," Basch claimed.

"Then I guess Ivan can go do something else because of how disagreeable he is being," Yao spoke up.

"H-hai," Kiku agreed. A few people looked over at the Japanese man as he hadn't spoken since they ended up at the base. Yao smiled to himself as he finally managed to get Kiku back to a sort of normalcy.

"Fine, do not expect help from me if any of you end up in deeper trouble than you can handle," Ivan snapped before standing up and slamming his hands onto the table.

"Stop acting like such a spoiled brat!" Yao chastised the Russian. The two had a dark stare down until Ivan backed away.

"You represent the whole of Russia, stop being childish and grow up so you can represent your people!" The Chinese man continued.

"We represent nothing now Yao-Yao," he commented with a smile as he knew he had won this argument.

"What do you mean?" Hanatamago and Kumajiro could be heard play fighting in the other room and it drew concern to the Canadian and the Swedish man but the situation at hand was more pretentious than a small scuffle between the two pets.

"Do not call me **Yao. Yao.** " he enunciated the last two syllables in his sentence as he glared darkly at the Russian. Ivan smirked.

"How I love that nickname, it brings back so many memories," Ivan said in a sing-song tone.

"Shut the hell up Ivan!" Yao finally snapped.

"Do not come near me or talk to me again!" Yao hissed before getting up and storming out of the conference room. Tensions were strung a bit higher as usual from the argument and Yao just storming off but nothing was going awry after the meeting. It seemed Yao went to the most secluded place in the building to just cry. That's how Kiku found him anyways. Kiku was left to comfort his poor brother who was once again, heartbroken. The meeting ended and lots of hateful and distasteful glares were sent Ivan's way, but he could care less as he was used to that sort of treatment in the first place.

"I hope he learns how to control his behavior in later meetings," Basch whispered to Ludwig. They seemed to be on better terms due to the agreement with shared leadership.

"Yeah me too... It's quite the problem if he's causing arguments," Ludwig replied.

"He could split the group if he's not careful."

Basch and Ludwig shared looks of concern as they thought about the arising situation.

"And not in his favor either," Ludwig added. Basch nodded as response and stayed silent. He was thinking of Lili as usual and worrying. His eyebrows knit together as he remembered the mission that ended in the death of Lukas.

"We really don't represent anything anymore," he suddenly said.

"What?" Ludwig's outraged voice replied.

"I mean... Lukas died so easily, he was practically dead once they managed to get to him and so were the Baltic states, think about it."

Basch flicked a strand of hair from his face as he thought harder about the current situation.

"Those people who started this... and are currently convincing everyone that it's our fault have probably caused the people to lose faith and now we've been reduced to nothing but mere humans, right?" he stated. Ludwig nodded and gave a sigh.

"I suppose so, it's unfortunate, though," he said and gave a bitter smile.

"Yeah, we'll still destroy the people who decided to impose this on us."

Basch had a determined look on his face as he looked at Ludwig.

"You, Italy, everyone here will survive until the end," Basch said. Ludwig nodded.

"I have to get back to Feliciano before he starts whining again..." Ludwig mumbled, slicking his hair back. It had slowly been getting longer than he desired.

"See you around then," Basch said and gave a small wave before the German hurried off to find the Italian. He seemed in a rush as whining could be heard from the other side of the hall.

"If only we could all feel the same... I'll go check on Yao maybe." He thought to himself for a moment.

"Yeah, I should," he confirmed with himself before walking off and going to find Yao. After a minute of searching, he found the Chinese man curled up in a ball and staring at the wall with a dark and brooding look on his face. Basch knew he often had a small scowl but he'd never seen this look and almost turned on heel and left but it was too late.

"What do you want?" Yao asked.

"I came to talk to you, after Ivan pulled that little stunt of his," Basch explained.

"Well, if you came here to cheer me up or get information out of me then go," Yao snapped in a bitter tone.

He wasn't in the mood to bring up past wounds to rub salt in them or try to be sympathized with since no one could understand it.

"You loved Ivan, dearly didn't you?" Basch asked.

"Shut up," Yao mumbled.

"Answer me, you'll never get over today if you don't and we need you back because your one of our medics," Basch snapped.

"So, that's all you care about?!" Yao hissed.

"No, it's not," Basch replied coolly.

"Then why do you care so much for me? I'm just an old man whose time should've been up many years back."

Yao's eyes expressed only sadness and angst.

"Because, without you, Kiku wouldn't be how he is, he probably would be dead and your kind to everyone so you shouldn't deserve the treatment Ivan gives you."

Basch stared back intensely. Yao returned the glare. His eyes softened.

"Thank you, Basch," he finally said and gave a shy smile.

"No problem, you can still take your time getting better since he did say some pretty mean things but don't keep letting it get to you," Basch said.

"Yes, thanks." Yao bowed stood up and bowed his head. Basch blushed as he never normally got this kind of attention and it somewhat embarrassed him. Yao's modesty also made Basch feel a little inferior and sort of rude in comparison but he wouldn't dwell on the thought since he wasn't as bad as per say, Alfred.

"Night squadron!" Ludwig's gruff voice called out.

"That's my cue to head out," Basch said and waved off as he ran to Ludwig.

"Basch!"

"Here!"

"Lovino!"

"Right here jerk!"

"Sadik and Alfred!"

"Here!"

"Arthur?"

No response.

"He said he was going..." Ludwig grumbled.

"Bloody hell! I'm right here!"

"Alright, this will be the permanent evening patrol unless... something... happens." Ludwig observed the group and deemed it good enough.

"I better come back to come back to my brother you Swiss jerk!" Basch rolled his eyes and looked at the group.

"Count off," Basch ordered.

"1!"

"2."

"Tres!"

"Dort!"

"Fünf," Basch finished the count and observed the group.

"Let's head out then."


End file.
